Drunken Grilled Pineapple

I often wonder if you can tell a lot about a person by the types of photos on their phone. Mine are typically photos of my newspaper events, my kids, my friends, my dog, and of course - ideas for recipes.

But this one actually came from my friend Mike, who was also on the tugboat tour I talk about on page 17.

Dole, being such a huge player at the Wilmington port, offered free pineapples to everyone who took the tour. Here’s how I responded:

INGREDIENTS

1 pineapple, ripe

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup spiced rum

1/3 stick butter

METHOD

Remove core and rind of the pineapple with a knife.

Cut the pineapple into strips.

Mix the vanilla, rum and sugar in a Tupperware-esque container until the sugar has dissolved.

Place the wedges into the rum mixture and refrigerate overnight - or at least a few hours.

When you’re ready to grill, place the pineapple pieces on a grate or paper towel to dry.

Heat the grill to medium heat and place the pineapple on the grate.

When the pineapple becomes caramel colored on the bottom side, about 5 minutes, turn the strips over and repeat.

Pour the liquid into a saucepan and cook over medium heat to a thick syrup (be careful of flare-ups during the first minutes since there will be alcohol from the rum.  When it starts to bubble and is reduced by at least 2/3, add the butter.

As soon as the butter melts, remove from heat.

If you’re serving the pineapple as a side dish with say, ribs or pork chops, you can cut the sauce ingredients. But if you’re serving this as a dessert with ice cream, or better yet, on pancakes or waffles, double it!

The sauce alone is very good and the alcohol is cooked out (although not so much in the pineapple itself - save that for the weekend or a brunch with friends).